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Marvel Masterworks The Mighty Thor Volume 5 Review

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It has been a while since I read one of the Thor volumes from this series. These were some of Thor’s best adventures as Stan Lee and the other really knew how to write the character. This was back when Thor was easily one of the heavy weights of the Marvel Universe and you could make a strong case for him being the strongest Marvel character to have his own series. The collection also brings some mini comics from when Thor was younger, which are fun to read and add to the overall experience. This is certainly one of the better Masterwork volumes out there.

This volume has a few story arcs within it and a lot of one shot stories as well. The first few involve a mysterious group of aliens from another galaxy. One of them appears on Earth and claims it as her own. The cops humor the alien for a while since they don’t know that the Earth has been trapped with an energy ring and is being taken out of Orbit. Thor proves to be stronger than the aliens had anticipated and they agree to spare the Earth if Thor can defeat Ego The Living Planet. While Thor does not need to agree to the deal, he accepts the challenge and looks forward to the fight.

This was a fun way to start off the collection as the aliens may not have been very powerful physically, but they had some lethal abilities. Thor was the first being to ever overpower their mental attacks and their ability to harness limitless durability and strength availed them not against The Thunderer. Ego was also a powerful antagonist, but Thor bested him in combat and Ego ended up retreating. After his adventures against those foes, Thor helped the High Evolutionary defeat the Man-Beast. The Man-Beast was reasonably powerful, but no matter how far human genetics go, the result will still be mortal.

One of the one shot comics had Odin give Jane Foster some tests to see if she was worthy to be an immortal. Once Odin gave her a glimpse of her abilities and sent the lady to face a monster, Jane Foster was not able to succeed. Jane looked really bad in this issue and while the situation was a little overwhelming, I would have expected her to have dealt with the situation a little more effectively. If she was as strong a character as she is now, I don’t doubt that she would have conquered the beast.

Later on, another comic had Loki take over the Destroyer armor and attack Asgard. It was a king sized special and the fights that ensued were a lot of fun. Seeing Thor go fist to fist against the Destroyer armor was enjoyable and the Destroyer was certainly a powerful opponent. Surprisingly, I think that this was the only comic where Loki got to appear. Considering how much of a big Thor villain he is, I assume that this is quite rare. Finally, we had a one shot comic where Kang accidentally unleashed one of his super robots on the Earth. Thor briefly engages in combat with the man, but then Kang runs off. Thor essentially sent him to Limbo, but we never got to see a proper fight between them.

Aside from the opening arc, the main saga in this collection deals with Ulik The Troll. The Trolls decide to invade Asgard so Ulik kidnaps Sif to lure Thor to Midgard. While Thor is away, the rest of the trolls plan on taking over Asgard. Odin is still there so the kingdom won’t fall so easily and Thor’s wrath has been stirred so Ulik may end up regretting his decision by the time the fight is over. This saga certainly had a lot of action and made for a good read.

The Thor Masterworks are certainly a step up from the rest of the Marvel comics from these days. The main title that keeps up would be Spider Man and it makes for a close battle. One of the main reasons why I have always liked the old Thor comics is due to the dialogue. It’s all very grand and majestic, fitting for Asgardians. The way that the characters all talk is very refined and many feats are included here as well. Thor gets hit with planet leveling punches and karate chops that strike as hard as cosmic tornadoes. It’s great to see these feats just be tossed about and Thor was always able to keep up with his foes.

Thor certainly looks very good and he never backs down from a fight. He’s a very likable main character and you can always count on him being honorable while in combat. You’ll find yourself rooting for him from early on and he never falters. Having an immortal as the main lead is also a nice contrast from the many humans and meta humans. Thor has lived for thousands of years at this point so he has reason to be so confident. If no being has managed to best him yet, why should that change now?

This collection showed Lady Sif’s first appearance in the Marvel Universe. Jane Foster had just been written out of the comic and the writers did a good job of making Lady Sif more likable than Jane in every way. Lady Sif was always ready for a fight and she was very competitive. I do have to question the fact that Thor completely forgot about her since that seems to be impossible, but I suppose that the writers had no idea on how to suddenly add a new Asgardian into the mix. I suppose that the reason for why she had never appeared before could have been worse. While she is certainly not as strong as Thor, Sif takes down many trolls and proves herself as an Asgardian warrior. She instantly became one of the better supporting characters.

Ulik The Troll also debuts here and it’s amazing to see how much stronger he was back in these days. Nowadays, the writers like to treat him like a joke, but he was originally a foe to be feared. His raw power was nearly equal to that of Thor’s own and he nearly bested the warrior the first time that they fought. Ulik is not really my kind of villain, but he was a serious threat and made for a good opponent of Thor’s. You could say that he was similar to Doomsday or Abomination back then when compared to the hero of the story.

Odin is actually reasonable in this comic. Typically, he can come across as rather rude or simply unaware of what is going on, but he is likable here. Odin ends up joining the fight against the trolls and finally says that he approves of Jane and Thor’s relationship. He ends up being a decent guy when it counts, which was nice. I don’t think that he lived up to the hype as he nearly lost to the trolls, but he never actually lost so I can’t say that he was disappointing either.

The Warrior’s Three were decent characters. My favorite member is certainly Volstagg though. Each and every one of his lines are genuinely funny and he really makes the adventures more enjoyable. His two partners are good as they keep up the banter, but the dialogue wouldn’t be possible without Volstagg. He’s easily one of the best Thor characters of all time and he’s a blast and a half to read about. The mini comics often involved them teaming up with Thor. The collection ends with the group about to fight Mogul to avenge Hogun’s clan. The mini comics are typically very short, but we still get many nice action scenes with them. It’s an example of a backup story that does help to make the main one even better.

As always, the art does not disappoint. The classic Marvel style has always been a lot of fun and it is so easy to read. You don’t have to worry about any of the panels being unclear because the staff worked hard on each and every panel. You can feel the level of detail present here as soon as you start reading and it pays off for the fight scenes as well as normal talking moments. This is a style that is lost to us and it’s not all bad as I really like the modern day art as well, but seeing some of this nowadays would still be pretty great.

Overall, This is a great volume of Thor comics. It’s a little over 200 pages so it’s a fairly long read. I believe that it brings 10 Thor issues and one of the annuals. There is a lot of action to be found here and the characters are all well written. I haven’t met a Marvel comic with bad writing from this period and I don’t expect that to change anytime soon. There’s a cliffhanger that revolved around Galactus getting ready to fight Ego, but I guess it must have been resolved in a different comic. It’s too bad since that sounded like a good fight. If you are looking for a comic to see the true Thor as he was meant to be seen, I can think of no better way to start than to jump into this series. This is certainly one of the best Thor runs and you will be hooked on the story from start to finish.

Overall 8/10

Ten Year Celebration 2015 Free Comic Book Day Special Review

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It is time for the final Free Comic Book! I left this one for last because the one from last year bored me to be honest and anthologies are really hard to get into. This one features a lot of stories, but most of them are extremely short so you aren’t able to really get into them. That just doesn’t seem like a winning formula. The readers won’t be enticed to buy any of the issues and I doubt that the writers like to be confined to such a small area to show off their artistic talents. I suppose that it is supposed to just be a fun little comic to read to celebrate 10 years of…something, but it just doesn’t work.

There are a bundle of stories here. The one that is the longest and also the most boring is about a few mice who listen to a story about the days of old. Nothing happens and you wonder why the story is being told. Adventure Time’s short is about a card game tournament that is about to begin and this was one of the best comics. Had we actually gotten to start the tournament, it likely would have blown the rest of the stories away. I love a good card game tournament! Snoopy got one where he is trying to write a book, but one of the kids keeps criticizing him. I would give this one points for effort, but this comic feels like it has been ripped off panel for panel from other Snoopy issues. The plot is not new or original so no points for effort.

Garfield’s story is cool because he now has the title of fastest cat in the world. It was a comedy story as he did it for the pizza, but it was still satisfying to see him take the win. I thought that his owners would lose the money somehow, but they actually kept the 10000 dollar reward. That’s pretty great! There is a story about a Kirby ripoff who decides to fight a two headed dragon, but realizes that he doesn’t have any deodorant on. That’s certainly a dicey predicament when you are about to enter the fight of your life eh!? There are a few other stories, but you get the jist and the others were all extremely short anyway. Although, the story about the Red Cardinal giving people a chocolate milk drink when they thought that they were drinking coffee was decent. It was only about a page or two though so it really went by quickly.

The art really varies as each comic has a different art style so it’s really hard to talk about it. Some had good art like Garfield, Adventure Time (Gimicky, but still good) Snoopy, and the Cardinal, but others like the Mice story had art that was very sub par. By and large, it depends on the issue, but more issues have good art rather than bad so that’s always a good thing. The writing is typically in the same boat, but I’d argue that it is the opposite. More comics have poor writing than the kind of writing that will make you grin.

Overall, This collection was just as (not) good as I expected. You simply can’t hope to cram in like 10 different stories in a comic that is only slightly bigger than the typical one. There simply isn’t enough time to develop all of the tales and a lot of them will just tend to be unlikable or uninspired. We ended the free comics on a low note, but I did leave this one for last on purpose. I knew what to expect and I put it off for quite a while. No worries though as my next comic reviews will be about much better comics. You likely won’t see another comic with a score so long in quite a long while. If you like anthologies then maybe you should pick this up, but I still recommend skipping this comic and just reading a Justice League issue.

Overall 4/10

Valiant 25th Anniversary Special Review

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I’m nearly at the end of my issues from Free Comic Book Day. This is the second to last one and I had left it for the end because it looked like a long one. Little did I know that most of the pages are just celebrating the 25th Anniversary and there is only one real issue here. There’s a two page preview for two others as well, but that’s even shorter than the usual FCBD stories. It’s not a bad issue , but it is certainly less impressive than what I have come to expect from Valiant.

The main story shows us the new Bloodshot. He has finally been cured from his abilities and is experiencing what it is like to live as a human for the first time. This may be tough though as he is now defenseless and still has a lot of enemies. He decides that this is a path that he must walk alone and convinces his friends to leave him for the time being. Will he really be able to stay safe? The premise has certainly been done before with Wolverine and other heroes, but it’ll be intriguing for some to see how Bloodshot handles this.

The problem is that the comic isn’t very interesting and it isn’t a premise that would make me want to read the series. The art is good and the writing appears to be solid enough. Still, the story could not win me over. One two page story had a pair of guys talking about how the main character of X/O Man of War has to die because of the armors that are taking over the universe. It’s a quick discussion and one that could have happened in a panel, but was dragged out by the guy talking about how he forgot why he is fighting in the first place. I’m sure that the arc would be good, but there’s not enough here to really get us interested.

Finally, one preview was for Ninjak and it was spent hyping up a new villain. She destroys people with her hair and is good at getting others to do what she wants them to do. The government warns Ninjak that he may be doomed this time, but he burns them with the “Should I be impressed?” line before he gets ready to fight her. It may have only been 2 pages, but it was clearly the most interesting of the three stories. This segment had higher stakes than the other two and I was ready for things to happen.

Of course, since Valiant is an indie company, you can expect that their full stories would likely be a little on the violent side. This issue is okay and that’s good since a lot of people will be reading it, but it’s still very unlikely that I will be checking out the stories in the future. The end of the comic has a poster for an upcoming event where the Valiant universe will be (rebooted) destroyed. Bloodshot is back in his super form so I guess that spoils whether or not he decides to be a fighter again eh? That should be fun as crossovers are always pretty integral to the universe.

If you’re a big Valiant fan, you’ll like the fact that this comic really does celebrate the anniversary. There are several pages for the best fights of the Valiant Universe, best team ups, best deaths, etc. If you’ve been reading all of the comics, it’ll be a nice trip down memory lane for long time fans. I would have liked a picture for each fight so I could have seen what they are talking about, but I suppose that comic covers will have to do.

Overall, The Valiant issue has an interesting start with Ninjak, but the other two stories weren’t quite as engaging. At this point, it is safe to say that Valiant is the only big super hero company besides Marvel and DC so it is good to see them grow more popular I suppose. That being said, I’d say that IDW and Archie still have a nice lead over them so Valiant needs to get busy. All of their comics are really similar at this point so maybe they should consider adding some more variety. It certainly couldn’t hurt. I recommend checking this out if you want some action, but maybe you should just check out a trade paperback and see if it is your style.

Overall 6/10

Miles Morales: Ultimate Spider Man Volume 1: Revival Review

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I haven’t read a lot of Ultimate comics compared to their 616 counterparts, but I could clearly see why it was known as a missed opportunity. The concept behind the Ultimate Universe was great. The characters would undergo a reboot and we could take a step away from the complex threats of multiversal scale for a little while. After all, how can Scorpion be a threat when Spider Man consistently fights foes like Thanos and the Phoenix? Unfortunately, the universe couldn’t live up to the hype. The Fantastic Four comics weren’t bad and the Spider Man ones were a bright spot amidst all of this. Here, we get to meet the new Spider Man!

The graphic novel brings the final Ultimate Spiderman issue before we launch into the first 5 issues of Miles’ new series. (I believe that this is already his second one) Miles is still learning to cope with his identity as a super hero as it is a tough job. He decides to tell his friend so there are no secrets between them, but she doesn’t take it too well. Things go from bad to worse for him as Peter Parker (Is it really him!) comes back from the grave and wants to be Spiderman again. Not to mention that the original Green Goblin is also back and he wants to destroy both of them.

You can see why things are a little tough on Miles right now. It’s certainly a lot to take in. Miles has a lot of fans, but I have to say that I’m really not one of them. His personality is just unappealing to me. For starters, I feel like he is constantly in shock and quickly starts swearing at every opportunity. This is a Bendis comic so it happens constantly by many different characters. All of the words are censored of course, but it’s still rather unnecessary and just shows us that Miles has a potty mouth. It makes it hard to identify with him as a character and likewise, it can be hard to root for him.

Handing out his secret identity so casually just doesn’t seem like a good move. He’s new to the superhero gig so some mistakes are to be expected, but he also tries to sound tough and/or confident, which is a mix that really doesn’t work. His Venom’s sting is certainly a good ability to have though and he’s a decent fighter. I’m sure that he could take on a lot of the opponents that the real Spiderman has faced throughout the years. He is not as strong as Spiderman physically, but his other abilities help to even the playing field.

He has two friends, who serve as supporting characters throughout this ordeal. One of them freaks out when she learns about Miles being Spiderman and it is certainly a cringe worthy scene. I don’t think people would react like that in real life and especially not in a world where superheroes are at every corner. I just don’t see it, maybe if Miles had said that he was the Kingpin or something, but certainly not for being Spiderman. As for the other friend, he is really just a generic friend. There’s really nothing to say about him and I don’t care for the character.

The Ultimate Universe may have a lot of heroes like the 616 one, but not nearly as many. As such, the civilians seem to have responded to them much differently. People actually don’t seem to fear Spiderman and they looked to him as a hero at one point. The cops are still trying to capture them and do their jobs of course, but it is an improvement. The universe is also a lot more down to Earth so you could almost call Spiderman a heavy hitter here. Gwen Stacy is still alive, which is a major change and just about everyone was friends with Spiderman. I definitely wouldn’t trade this universe for 616, but it does remind you of how the universe once held so much potential.

When Spiderman died, I’m sure that Ultimate fans were fairly disappointed. The final issue of the run is included in this collection as everyone attends the funeral and thinks about what could have been. I already read that one during Free Comic Book Day a while back, but it was still interesting to check out once again. With the “Revival” happening in this collection, that was surely going to be a big chance to the Marvel universe. Could it possibly be the real Spiderman or is it all a trick? I have a feeling that this is a fake, but at least he seems to be cool so far.

Peter is fairly unreasonable when he first appears though. He just barges into the house and tells Miles that the real Spiderman is back. This sounds nothing like the Peter Parker that we have known for so many years, which is sketchy. At least he does come back to help out against the Green Goblin and he looks tough enough to be the real deal. He handles the threat well and doesn’t fight against the cops. If the true Spiderman is back, then it’s a bright day for the ultimate universe.

The second half of the comic really stepped it up as the action scenes were a lot of fun. We also got to see the Green Goblin again and he proved why he is one of Spiderman’s greatest villains. Even 2 on 1, he was putting up a great fight and he hadn’t been prepared. For round 2, things could get hairy for the heroes, unless Jameson’s plan ended up succeeding. It was a fairly shocking ending and it’s hard to see how Osborn would be able to react in time, but that could be a reaction time feat. Miles is also about to get some “answers” from Peter, which should be interesting.

There’s a lot of ways that the comic can go with this so it will be interesting to see what happens. Right now, the series is mainly lacking in the characters department. Adding in someone likable and experienced like Spiderman could really help to shake things up. That being said, Spiderman has to actually be likable so we’ll see if that ends up being the case here. If not, then it certainly defeats the purpose. I have a feeling that we haven’t seen the last of Green Goblin and the Ultimates should have something to say about Spiderman being back unless they’re currently gone. I think it was mentioned that Captain America may have vanished or something like that. I know that the Galactus event already happened, but I know almost nothing about it beyond the fact that Shadowcat had a big fight with him.

There’s even a reference to the Secret Wars event as the cops think that someone is crazy when she starts to babble about it. It’s a neat bit of foreshadowing as this comic came out quite a while ago I believe. If the Ultimate Universe had acted on this knowledge they could have thrown the 616 guys for a loop. I suppose that the cops just didn’t realize how important those vague references were at the time.

While the writing may not be up to snuff, the art is decently good. Only decently though as it really varies and some pages do end up looking pretty bad. The artist has trouble with the faces at times so the battle scenes are what stands out. The big fight with Goblin was a lot of fun to look at. Hopefully, the art will improve in the next one, but it’s still clear enough that you can easily tell what is going on and follow along with the action. The faces may just make you smirk at times.

Overall, Revival is a solid Spider Man story. Seeing the original Spiderman meet up with the new one was something that we had been waiting for. We got to go one better in Spider Men and in the Ultimate Spiderman TV show, but this got to be a pure Ultimate meet up. I don’t know if I’ll be checking out another Ultimate comic for quite a while, but at least I got to add another one to my reading history. As far as alternate universes go, Ultimate was definitely fleshed out more than most. It simply didn’t work and a reboot of it will probably be necessary. At the end, a new FF series for Ultimate was being teased so maybe that will end up being good. It’s hard to hold out too much hope for it, but you never know right? I recommend this comic if you want a quick action story and don’t really need much of a deep plot behind it. Then, you’re all set for some fiery action! (No guest stars showing up when the heroes are fighting Goblin in front of such a large crowd in a public neighborhood is a little sad, but most of the heroes may be busy at the moment since the Ultimate Universe is always in the middle of a fight somewhere)

Overall 7/10

Secret Avengers Volume 1 Mission To Mars Review

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It is time to start another Avenger series! The Secret Avengers has always been an interesting concept. They strike from the shadows instead of taking on big threats in the spotlight. This would be impossible to an extent if no other heroes were around, but since there are numerous fighters ready to defend the world, Captain America can afford to lead this team in the shadows. Of course, it is much easier to cross the line and start to become the villains while in the shadows so Captain America will have to make sure that he has what it takes to hold onto his integrity.

The Secret Avengers have located a mysterious crown that they stole from an evil organization and find out that it has something to do with the Planet Mars. Captain America sends Nova to scout ahead, but the cosmic hero disappears. The Secret Avengers must now head outside of their element so that they can find their ally. Of course, if something could actually defeat the mighty Nova, what chance does Captain America have of victory!? This could be their most dangerous mission yet!

The roster for the Secret Avengers is fairly unique and the team has got a good balance. Captain America brings his experience to the table and he was always a great leader for the Avengers. This portrayal of him shows that he is always willing to risk his life for a teammate and he gives his allies their due respect unlike some of the other Avengers. He’s a little out of his league against the cosmic threats, but something helps to even the playing field for the climax.

Black Widow makes perfect sense for the team since she is all about espionage. She doesn’t get to fight all that much aside from the intro scene because facing a planet buster is not really her style. Widow’s style of completing a mission certainly contrasts with Valkyrie. I certainly prefer the Asgardian and she would be a much more powerful ally. Black Widow doesn’t look bad though and she helps out a lot more than the next member.

Beast managed to make it onto the team and that’s too bad. I’m not a Beast fan and he is one of my least favorite X-Men members. He’s joined the Avengers on a few occasions as well. He may be smart, but that’s really all that he brings to the table. He helps the team find out about the crown and he means well, but I’ve seen the Beast make too many questionable decisions in the comics and the films. He’s not an ally that I would trust when the chips are down.

Valkyrie is the team’s heavy hitter. She is certainly not as strong as some of the other previous power houses like Thor and Hulk, but this is a team that is not meant to tackle many super threats so it may be fitting. She is still very powerful and could easily beat the rest of the team, but I would consider her closer to Thing level than the two that I previously mentioned. Valkyrie is a fighter with honor and her personality has always been a good one. She’s easily one of the best members on the team.

Next up, we have War Machine! He doesn’t get a chance to do much, but he has a lot of experience like Captain America. We’ve seen the War Machine suit many times in the past so we know what to expect from it at this point. He can hold his own in a fight. Unfortunately, War Machine really doesn’t like the new Ant-Man and makes sure to bring it up whenever possible. Calling the young hero a “kid” is just plain insulting and it certainly won’t make you gain any respect for the guy. Moon Knight is also around, but he hasn’t done anything yet. He’s the mysterious figure of the group and I assume that he has something up his sleeve. I definitely wouldn’t trust him as he seems to have an agenda and isn’t typically a team player. I guess we will just have to wait and see with him.

Finally, we have the Ant-Man. This isn’t Hank Pym or Scott Lang, but a guy named Eric. He has an intriguing history and it seems like he is constantly jumping from hero to villain and vice versa. Obviously, War Machine has a reason to not trust him so I won’t be too hard on the guy. Eric does actually make a questionable call at the end as he blows up a few agents from the shadow organization. They had been heading to Mars to blow it up, but Eric forced them to speed up the process. I think that he certainly should not have gone for the kill so quickly. None of the other characters really noticed that this happened so we haven’t dealt with any repercussions. Still, this could be the beginning of a defection by Eric.

Sharon Carter is essentially the director of the team. Cap’s the leader, but she helps to coordinate everyone from the shadows and she has a subplot where she tries to recover one of the mysterious crowns. She seems like a tough individual and I’m glad that she didn’t wait for backup when she headed for the crown. That being said, she’ll have to work hard to back up her tough talk as she was defeated in a single blow during her first fight. That’s definitely not the right way to earn hype and respect from the readers.

Nova is a member who’s not always around. You can essentially say that he’s on stand by. He’s a clear powerhouse so it’s good to have him ready, but he doesn’t look good here. He is essentially mind controlled for the entire volume, which isn’t cool. I don’t think that he would be taken over so easily or lose control of his mind like that. This is Nova that we’re talking about, not some new recruit who is just joining the superhero game! Ah well, I haven’t seen Richard Rider in a while so that was neat. His abilities looked good, but he still should have looked a lot better.

Nick Fury gets a big role in the final comic as we learn that he actually hadn’t been around during the first issues. We have been dealing with a clone of him who is now called Max. Max still has his heroic personality in theory so I’m assuming that he is simply being duped. He shouldn’t be much of a threat to the Avengers, but with his knowledge I suppose that he can certainly complicate matters.

Secret Avengers ended up being a fun read as the plot was very interesting. This lineup of Avengers is a good one and I look forward to seeing where their adventures take them next. This volume didn’t have much of a villain although I suppose that you could call the mind controlled Nova the main antagonist. We still did get some nice fight scenes and the robot that shows up to fight Nova was cool. He lost in a quick hit so that certainly didn’t last long, but the important thing is that he tried.

The art also works well for this collection. The fight scenes really stand out and the panel of Valkyrie fighting Nova with a big energy clash was particularly good. The energy effects really stand out compared to the rest of the comic since it is not very bright. While the comic does use darker colors, it still looks very streamlined and works. The characters aren’t as detailed as X-Sanction, but few comics are up to that level of detail without overdoing it. As it stands, the comic did a good job.

The most interesting thing to follow will be if the Avengers can stay true to themselves or not. Some members like the Beast and Black Widow likely wouldn’t hesitate to cross the line or make a shady decision. Likewise, War Machine would likely not mind for the government and Ant Man was a criminal. Valkyrie likely destroyed many while on Asgard and Captain America can be super heroic one minute and a criminal the next. Moon Knight’s a wild card in all of this. I’m hoping that the team remembers that they are super heroes and do the right thing. If not, hopefully we get a fight between the Secret Avengers and the real ones.

Overall, The Secret Avengers is a team that you don’t want to mess with and they should go far. The art is good and the writing is on point, which results in a fun comic book. This collection brings 5 issues instead of 4 so it will be slightly longer than the average one, which is typically a good thing. It seems like Nova won’t be appearing too often, but I hope that he gets to appear in a better role in the near future. I assume that the Nick Fury LMD will be the main plot so we will see how he holds up against a team of superheroes. I certainly recommend this comic and especially if you’re the kind of person who liked reading comics where the superheroes are making tactical decisions and not simply beating one on another because the fate of the world is at stake. Avengers has another winner now!

Overall 7/10

Uncanny X Men Volume 4: Vs S.H.I.E.I.D.

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When I saw that the name “Bendis” was on the cover, I knew that things were about to get a little dicey. Little did I know that I would be so right so fast. The original Uncanny X Men series was a lot of fun and probably one of the best X Men series of all time. This one? Well, this is the first volume that I’ve read in the series, but I can certainly say that I was not impressed. The writing is weak and the story is not very engaging. Let’s launch into the summary!

The Uncanny X Men have been hunted by Shield (Let’s forget the periods for a while) for too long. Sentinels keep attacking them at every turn so Cyclops decides to pay Maria Hill a visit. He declares that if Shield is attacking the mutants, it is war. If it is not Shield, but they continue to allow the attacks, then it is war as well. With his ultimatum at the ready, Cyclops storms off. Maria Hill has no idea who is doing this, but she’ll arrest the mutants to at least stop one problem!

There is a Vs in the title so that means that we get a lot of action here right? Wrong! There aren’t any real action scenes to speak of here. The big scene at the end simply involves taking over someone’s tech and using it to stop the crisis. There were no big battles and that was a little sad. I like dialogue based comics as much as the next guy, but when Bendis is the writer…that’s simply not going to work. The issues aren’t very interesting. You can tell that the series is building up to something of course, but it’s not going fast enough.

I’ve been taking my shots at Bendis for a while so let’s elaborate on why his writing isn’t good here. First off, we have a mutant who can project energy balls around himself. Naturally, this means that the kid only talks about the balls and constantly says it in a way that can be taken in other directions. It’s obvious to everyone that he is talking about his ability, but naturally a character has to actually point this out and put him on the spot.

Next up, the telepaths decide to invade more minds to dredge up some dark secrets like Maria Hill having a crush one on of the main characters. The scene is rather unnecessary and just goes to show that Bendis doesn’t have a strong script at the ready so he has to distract us with filler. I could go on all day, but the point is that the comic is all about dialogue and yet, the dialogue is not that good.

Adding insult to injury is the fact that the art isn’t very good. It’s certainly subdued, which hurts its cause in the brightness angle, but the main problem is how similar some of the characters look. Why do Magik and Emma Frost look the same? That shouldn’t be possible and Magik’s costumes from the past were all rather iconic and epic. They were fitting for such a demonic princess. Wearing the same costume as Emma Frost is just taxing on the eyes as you can never tell who is who giving the pages an extra minute each time. The energy blast scenes have the potential to be good and we get some nice visuals in the first comic, but a lot of them are too big for the comic to keep up. You know what is happening, but only because it was a quick action. In a real fight, I have a feeling that the art would crumble.

The other X Men group gets to appear, but all of the members are extremely unlikable. Seriously, they just come to pick fights and then get mad when Cyclops puts them in their place. Iceman decides to pick a fight by insulting Cyclops and trying to make him look bad in front of the others. Cyclops naturally responds with an optic blast and Iceman immediately escalates into near death threats. Iceman used to be a good character, but his current personality coupled with his terrible design didn’t do wonders for him as a character. Storm also looks very unreasonable and let’s not even get started with the Beast. The Beast just seems to have finally cracked and he certainly can’t be trusted.

Although it is easy to lose sight of this, the main plot is about someone who is framing Shield. We eventually find out who it is and I have to suspend a lot of disbelief because it’s a very big stretch of the imagination. Someone popped in from an alternate universe and managed to hack into Shield’s tech? Hacking into Shield is apparently easy, but this is really pushing the envelope. This character is also pretty unlikable so it was a twist that didn’t help the comic at all.

Meanwhile, we have a subplot where Mystique is essentially ruling an island as a drug lord and getting people hooked on it at the expense of Dazzler. Magneto frees Dazzler and wants vengeance on Mystique and her posse. I’m sure that the group will fight soon, but it’s another subplot that I didn’t care for. On the contrary, removing the subplot would have probably helped the comic as we could have had more issues for better plots.

One issue was all about Professor Xavier’s will, which apparently leads into the next volume as it is the big cliffhanger. If you wanted Prof X’s reputation as a hero to remain, you may want to skip that issue. He admits that while he was telling the X Men that all mutants should live in peace with humans and to protect them, he was actually brainwashing one. You see, there lived a mutant so powerful that he could apparently destroy the Avengers with ease. Prof X had a vision of this guy taking Thor down with a single blow among others. So, he decided to remove the boy’s powers with his telepathy and trick him for eternity. The boy caught on though and in the present, his powers are starting to run rampant.

When he powers up, everyone who is around him is instantly turned to dust. As his last command, Professor X wants the X Men to go and brainwash the kid once more and steal his memories/powers. Cyclops is disgusted with this mission while the others are mostly ho hum about it all. Cyclops is fighting to protect mutants so I hope that he ends up trying to lead this kid down the heroic path. It’s certainly going to be tricky though and I imagine that a lot of fights are about to begin.

The bright side is that this plot seems to be a lot more interesting and engaging than the rest of the issues that we got. I didn’t think that a comic with as many big characters as this one could be boring, but that’s essentially what happened. I found the big “Vs Shield” graphic novel to be a little dull. Things moved at a snail’s pace and Sentinels stopped being a threat decades ago. Cyclops typically got all of the interesting scenes so hopefully he will get some interesting fights next time.

Overall, It feels like it has been a while since I’ve given a main stream DC or Marvel title under a 6, but this one just couldn’t make it for me. The negatives were simply too much and it reminded me of the Amazing Spider Man series. Cyclops is still a good character and he has some epic moments, but the comic is really just missing a golden opportunity where it could have had some epic team battles and good plot developments. I can only hope that this series gets better soon as the premise behind Cyclop’s group is still rock solid. Where are the Avengers? Having another scuffle with them would have been interesting. On a side note, Magneto really let himself go. You’ll probably cringe when you see his new design.

Overall 5/10

Marvel Masterworks Daredevil Volume 2 Review

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All right, it’s time to read a classic collection of Daredevil issues! With the recent Netflix show on the air, he is a character who will gain a little more recognition than what he has seen in the days of old. If you saw my post on the show, you’ll already know my views on that. Needless to say, this comic is the kind of publicity that he needs as opposed to the show and you will see a noble superhero here. It’s a fun collection even if it’s not quite as action packed as the classic comics of other heroes.

As this is only the second volume, the series is still just getting started. Daredevil decides to leave town for a while to let Foggy and Karen keep the office in order for a while, but gets caught up in a tough situation with the Plunderer and Kazar. Not able to catch a break, Daredevil also gets into a mix up with Spider Man and learns that there are other heroes who can defeat the Man of Fear! Naturally, that’s just the tip of the iceberg and we quickly learn how skilled a blind lawyer can be when push comes to shove!

As this was in the olden days of Daredevil, he was closer to being blind than nowadays. Currently, Daredevil’s “vision” is so close to sight that he can basically see. He just sees in red or fire. In these classic comics, it’s treated more like echo location so he still has a lot of trouble in day to day operations. Why do you think the Plunderer was so strong compared to Daredevil? That being said, Daredevil still isn’t blind here as the villains use a flash gun, which does end up blinding him. (By hurting his other senses) As a blind man, Daredevil is quickly crushed by the enemies and he couldn’t beat a regular foe. So, we definitely know how well Daredevil would fare in a fight as an actual blind person.

Daredevil’s a nice hero to root for here. He makes a lot of puns like Spiderman although he vows to be more silent and commanding towards the end of the volume. He has a lot of potential for puns thanks to his blindness, but he likely couldn’t use most of them unless he was dressed up as Matt Murdock. I’ve always preferred the other classics like Spiderman, Iron Man, Thor, etc, but Daredevil is a solid hero in his own right. Being a lawyer is a unique occupation in the comic world and I would have liked to have seen more of that here. Daredevil really gets all of the screen time, which doesn’t leave Matt with much to do.

Spider Man’s appearance was a lot of fun. He was probably tricked a little too easily into starting a fight with Daredevil if you ask me, but at least he won. I was worried that the hype factor would result in a tie or with Daredevil winning, but the outcome was satisfying for me. You could even say that Daredevil won round 1 so that will be happy for his fans as well. The villains were underwhelming as they were essentially just average thugs, but that gives Daredevil a better chance to look good so I suppose that it is worth it.

The initial adventure with the Plunderer and Kazar was all right, but not as good as it could have been because Kazar was around. I’ve never cared for that character as the whole “Jungle Man” trope was never my favorite. I prefer characters who talk through long metaphors or puns because the dialogue is part of the fun in rooting for those characters. For Kazar’s dialogue, it simply doesn’t work for me. The Plunderer was a good villain though so he made the comics more fun.

This collection is a little larger than the average one as it is around 200 pages. That sounds like a good deal to me and it comes with the prelude that the Marvel Masterwork collections always contain. Those are fun to read and it is cool to see the behind the scenes story on why things happen like they do in the comics. The Dr Strange prelude was the most interesting, but this one had a good intro as well. A lot of thought certainly goes into each issue.

Aside from the various villains, there are two main supporting characters to be found here. Foggy and Karen, who work with Daredevil on the hero’s cases. By day, Daredevil is a lawyer after all so he needs some teammates. Karen always worried about Matt Murdock (Daredevil) because of how he always seems to be in danger. Her role is still fairly small at the moment. Foggy is the one who gets a big role as he has a subplot, which spans quite a few issues.

To impress Karen, Foggy decides to pretend that he is Daredevil. He even goes as far as to buy a Daredevil costume and convince someone to dress up as a villain. The problem is that the villain means business and wants to destroy Foggy to build a name for himself. Daredevil learns about this and decides to join the fight. This villain was powerful and managed to gain the upper hand in the first round, but Daredevil was ready. The villain went on to team up with another one of Daredevil’s old foes and they were still making plans when the volume ended.

I assume that we will likely see more of them in future issues. I liked the villain who used to be a costume designer so I’m hoping that he wins the battle of villainy with his partner. Daredevil’s array of villains may be one of the blander ones, but he certainly has some decent ones. The guy with the spinning blade and armor is probably my favorite Daredevil villain of all time and I don’t even know the guy’s name!

As expected, the art is spot on and really shows why the classic Marvel style worked so well for each story. Many of them had similar art, but you could still easily tell one series apart from the other. It was simple and made for good action scenes that were colorful and fun. It’s still hard to imagine how the artists were able to draw these pages every week as the amount of detail and effort that went into them is clear as you read the comics. Naturally, this applies to the writing as well, which is also as solid as you would expect. Compared to some of the current writers like Bendis and Slott, you really start to miss the high level of quality in these classic issues.

Overall, Daredevil was a good collection. It essentially captures all of the good qualities that you would expect from a Marvel comic. You could call it the definitive, average Marvel comic. It’s not as exciting as most of the popular Marvel heroes, but it still has the Marvel brand of quality on it. Daredevil is a likable main character and he makes the comics very engaging. Foggy and Karen aren’t the greatest of supporting characters, but at least they help to remind the audience of how much danger Matt is in as that’s usually the only thing that they talk about. New York can be dangerous for a blind man after all. I definitely recommend this to the comic readers out there and especially if you are looking for a new hero to root for. Daredevil is ready for some adventures and hopefully I will be able to read more Daredevil comics in the future. He’s a hero that I really haven’t read about on many occasions. Our paths have simply not crossed much, but perhaps that will change. Until then, you can expect popular heroes like Spiderman to appear more and more.

Overall 7/10

Sonic Universe Volume 8 Scourge: Lockdown Review

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I am really making a lot of progress with the Sonic Universe series! With this volume, I will have read all of them up to volume 8 with the exception of the Knuckles saga. No worries, the library ordered it so ideally I will have it at some point in the near future. Hopefully the library continues to add to their collection as the series goes on. Volume 7 was the greatest Sonic comic that I had ever read so it goes without saying that this one wouldn’t be quite as good. Still, volume 8 was fun and Scourge is certainly a threatening villain.

Scourge has finally been captured and he is taken to a prison that has never lost an inmate since its creation. The cops warn the warden that Scourge shouldn’t be underestimated before they depart. Scourge is actually wondering if he will ever escape when his old teammates appear. If he can convince them to let him become leader again, they could have a real chance at escaping. It shall be difficult though as the convicts are really having a blast taking Scourge down a few pegs. Not to mention that the Warden is giving him special attention as well.

One could argue that this is how Sonic Universe should be. Focusing on the side characters who don’t have a chance to lead their own stories in the main comics. I’ve heard around the grape vine that the Universe saga is getting bogged down by more and more special events that force it to tie in instead of having these mini sagas. I’ll evaluate those for myself once I get to that era, but it’ll be fun to have some Sonic adventures as well. Still, this graphic novel really gets at the core of why we have a Sonic Universe comic in the first place. It is side character time and while it is regrettable that Sonic is not around, Scourge isn’t (too) bad.

He is essentially Sonic without all of the witty dialogue and personality. Scourge makes for a decent dark version of Sonic and while he is no Shadow, we are meant to believe that Scourge may be more powerful. He has had some great fights in the past, but I have yet to fully read them. While in the prison, Scourge has power inhibitors on so that we can’t see his abilities and his full power is hardly necessary against the grunts at the end of the comic. The comic seems to be building him up to being an anti-hero eventually, but he’s still a villain for now and hopefully it stays that way for a while. Being evil is Scourge’s whole deal right now so why change that?

The prison was fairly impressive in the fact that they were able to get Scourge to give up. Essentially, it proves that an evil prison can defeat an evil prisoner sometimes. Luckily, Fiona and the gang arrived to save Scourge for Master Mogul. Of course, Scourge works for no one so they now have a change of plans. It will be interesting to see where Scourge and his allies go from here as they will certainly be hunted by the all powerful being. That’s not the kind of guy that you want to mess with.

As you would expect, the art is quite good for this collection. The Sonic series has always been good with that and I like the style that they used back in the old days and the one from the current comics as well. There are probably more facial expressions found here than usual, but it may just be Scourge as around 90% of them come from here. I think that it’s meant to make him look very psychotic and unstable. He is essentially crazy at all so that’s probably what the art is trying to do. It is as streamlined as ever and that’s always a good thing.

Essentially, the whole comic is a prison break so you may wonder why it takes so long so actually get out. This is mainly because the comic decides to give all of Scourge’s teammates an origin story so that we can learn about them. None of them were particularly interesting and I don’t like any of Scourge’s teammates so it did me no favors, but they weren’t bad enough to make me dock the score either. Fiona didn’t get an origin, but I assume that it is because we already know it from previous issues. (And she lightly touched on it anyway in this collection)

I would have liked to have seen cameos for some other big villains in the prison. This is supposed to be the greatest one of all time after all and no villains have ever managed to escape it. Mephiles and the green lady from the Pinball (?) game are present, but that’s about it. Still, it was nice to see them and I guess that they are simply buying time right now. After the big prison break, I have a feeling that the reputation of the prison will likely fade away very quickly.

It’s a short collection, but the style has worked for Sonic Universe. Each volume brings 4 issues, which makes for a quick read while still providing enough of a punch to have left you with a solid experience. As it is, I don’t think that dragging this arc out would have been good for the volume. With moderation, the prison side of things could be interesting, but it’s really only because of Sonic’s humorous style. If things were taken more seriously, this could have been a pretty dicey volume. As it stands, Sonic Universe was able to make a solid volume out of this and I’m ready to see Scourge have his rematch with Sonic!

Overall, This was a decent volume of Sonic Universe. It definitely feels like what I would expect from the Sonic franchise if Sonic was not present. It is not quite as fun as the average Sonic comic and the dialogue isn’t nearly as strong since Scourge isn’t too great at being a lead character. Still, the collection is interesting and I always like the references to the multiversal cops. It gives the comics a sense of cosmic scale. I lightly debated between giving this comic a 6 or a 7, but I’d say that it has earned the latter. We still have some nice action scenes and the art is good. Aside from the Knuckles comic that I should be reviewing within the next month or 2, I likely won’t be reading another Sonic Universe comic in a very long time (The next one’s not coming out until around June) so I shall certainly miss the series. Sonic Universe was a lot of fun and it shows why Sonic The Hedgehog is a franchise with so much potential. I even like the Sonic Boom TV show a lot and it’s a 15 minute, CGI short. Two traits that I don’t typically care for. Now, all I need is the next big Sonic video game!

Overall 7/10

Rabbids Review

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Well, something had to take the spot of worst comic from Free Comic Book Day and I think that we have found the one! The Rabbids have never looked like good characters and that did not change here. I really have no hope for their games being great, but since gameplay matters more than the characters there, that should help. Still, this issue was worse than I had expected and that’s even considering that we got some backup stories here.

The Rabbids story has no plot as the beings just do a lot of crazy things. The main reason why the story was terrible is that the jokes are terrible. Naturally, there’s nothing suggestive about being a random bunny so the writers decided to just add things. One Rabbid wears Tennis Balls and another one spies on her. It’s all just sad and definitely not funny. I really hope that this comic bombs and the sad thing is that this makes video game inspired comics look bad. It’s a good thing that Street Fighter was so good so that it could help us forget about this one. It really had no good moments to speak of.

One of the backup stories was a really short one about Garfield. Garfield had to travel to the Moon to fight off some aliens and it was a decent tale. There wasn’t much to it, but maybe that was part of the charm. The art was intriguing as it made the story appear to be in CGI. I don’t think that it is a style that I would want to see very often, but for once in a while, it isn’t bad. We got some action after all and from the 3 stories, it is easily the best. This series would definitely have some potential if it was on its own. I wouldn’t mind reading a trade paperback for this one.

The other story was the Smurfs and that really didn’t help the issue’s case. The dialogue was too small, which made reading it a little harder than it should be. The main villain’s relative comes over and then betrays the man. After all, the villain is evil so his brother (I think) couldn’t let that happen and stops him. The Smurfs aren’t very likable and the villains aren’t charismatic so it is certainly a losing combo if you ask me. It wasn’t nearly as bad as the Rabbids story and I would probably just give it a 3-4 typically, but it wasn’t good enough to bring the issue up either. The art was all right here, it was essentially newspaper style.

Overall, This comic was doomed thanks to the Rabbids. They seriously ensured that I could not like the issue and this didn’t help me gain any respect for them as characters. It will be quite a while before I buy one of their comics. The Smurfs is a series that I have never been interested either. That meant that Garfield had to really hold everything up and that was too great a task for it. A 2 is rather low, but that’s just how bad the Rabbids story was. I’d advise you to skip this comic, but Free Comic Book Day is already over so you may not have had a choice anyway right? There are only 2 more free comics left to read so I should have those reviews up at some point in the very near future.

Overall 2/10

Doctor Who Review

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Looks like it is time to review a Doctor Who comic! This franchise is rather huge and another one that always looked interesting. I’m sure that the shows are decent, but the comics and books are always the part of the franchise that looked particularly interesting to me. There have been many doctors over the years and this comic shows off 3 of them. The blond englishman is currently my favorite, but he doesn’t get to join the fray here. No matter, it is still a solid adventure full of fun and excitement!

One story sees the Doctor try to help his assistant after her clothing is covered in mud. His ship has a good laundry system, which can take care of the problem. The only thing that he didn’t count on was her mud turning into a monster that had a will of its own. He had to think quickly in order to dispatch this new menace to the free world! It was a true threat of epic proportions, but The Doctor finished it off pretty quickly.

This was a decent story. This Doctor seems to be a little more inexperienced than the others, but he gets the job done and he beat the mud monster easily. The art was good enough and the assistant seemed to be a good character. This duo would be able to hold their own TV show with relative ease. Nothing can stop the Doctor when he is on a roll!

Another story has the Doctor land in the year 2015 by mistake and we find out that someone is mind controlling the population through free comic books! The Doctor can’t allow this to go on and he quickly goes on the offensive. Can he really stop this alien before it is too late? The whole planet is out to get him after all so this can be fairly tricky.

This story tied in well to Free Comic Book Day and the ending is a happy one. You will almost feel bad for the alien since his writing skills really didn’t seem to be that good. Hopefully, he can get some constructive criticism now and he will be able to write some neat books. He had a huge following at one point, but mind control shouldn’t count if you really think about it. This was another fun comic and the Doctor was likable. Again, he didn’t come across as too smart though.

Finally, we had the comic where electricity wanted revenge on the humans because they were overusing it. This issue certainly felt like it was a sci-fi adventure more than the others. The stakes were a lot higher as there had been 6 casualties by the time that The Doctor entered the fray. Moreover, I liked this story a lot because The Doctor knew what he was doing this time. He didn’t back off when the government told him to stop and he knew just how to stop the threat.

The Doctor’s assistant also proved her worth as she saved the day when she crushed the switch. Having a partner is always a good thing and this certainly came in handy for The Doctor. It was very noticeable that this was only a small story in the issue though because the plot moved at breakneck speeds and some areas were glossed over. I think the issue should have been longer since the 3 different stories had to share screen time.

Overall, This Doctor Who comic was fun to read and it is still a very interesting series to learn about. I can see why it is known to be one of the greatest sci fi franchises of all time. I assume that the quality varies depending on who the Doctor is, but these three all seem to be fairly likable. The end of the issue teases at a crossover between the three of them, which would be pretty awesome. Since time travel is easy for these guys, I’m almost surprised that it is not more of a regular occurrence. The stories are fairly rushed since three have to share a single issue, but the art is consistently good and all of the stories are still fun to read. Another solid comic came out of Free Comic Book Day!

Overall 7/10